


Bit by Bit

by hunnyflower



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Ben is alive, But also, Domestic Fluff, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Not Beta Read, Number Five | The Boy is Really Thirteen, Past Child Abuse, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wicked - Mention, claire being cute, five is a bitchy high school student, five is a good uncle, hrrnrgh, i love them sm, its 3am now, klaus is basically fives dad, please go easy on me, seriously thats it, this has been in the drafts for months
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunnyflower/pseuds/hunnyflower
Summary: So yeah, maybe they hadn’t always been this okay, but they sure were getting there. Bit by bit.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Claire & Ben Hargreeves, Claire & Klaus Hargreeves, Claire & Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Everyone & Everyone, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	Bit by Bit

**Author's Note:**

> this has been in my drafts forever so i finally got the will to finish it!!! i care them a lot and they deserve to be happy that is literally all this is

“Claire sweetie, you need to eat your dinner,” Klaus said softly, pushing the food around the girls plate. Ever since Allison had regained custody of her daughter, and Klaus had gotten sober, he and his siblings had started taking care of Claire. Allison and Ray were out right now for their anniversary, so Klaus had the honour of babysitting the five year old. 

“I don’t wanna,” Claire complained, shoving the plate away from her. Klaus sighed and pushed it back, “If you eat your dinner, I’ll tell you a story,” he bribed. The little girl shook her head. “You  _ always  _ tell me stories! Can we watch one of mommy’s movies?” 

Klaus smiled, “Of course, but you have to eat first, mommy and daddy will be very upset if they come home and you haven’t eaten yet.” Claire pretended to ponder about it for a second before nodding her head, “Okay, but only for mommy.” she said, trying to finish the rest of her food by herself. 

“How’s my favourite niece doing?” Ben said, walking down the stairs. He had just finished helping Five with his school work, reading his favourite book with him afterwards. Five had never really needed help with his work, Klaus knew, it was all just a way to spend time with Ben. He didn’t think Ben minded either way, though. 

Claire giggled, “I’m your  _ only  _ niece, uncle Ben!” 

“You’re still my favourite.” He said, tickling her.

Klaus rolled his eyes at the two of them, used to their banter. “We were just gonna watch one of Allie’s movies, wanna join?” He directed at Ben, who nodded. “Obviously, has she eaten yet?” Ben asked, setting his book down on the table. 

Klaus nodded, “Just finished when you came down, where’s everyone else?”

“Vanya is at rehearsal, Luther is brooding in his room, Five should be down here in a few minutes, I called him down for dinner, and Diego is out doing whatever it is he does.” Ben rattles off.

“That’s good, wanna make a plate for Five while I turn on the movie?” He turns to Claire, “What do you wanna watch, little miss?”

“Can we do a song one instead? The one with the witches?” Claire asked. 

“ _ Wicked _ ?” Bed asked, “That’s Five’s favourite too,” 

“Yeah!!! If we watch it, will Uncle Five come down and watch with us?” The little girl said, bouncing in her seat. Five, conveniently, took that exact moment to walk down the stairs. “After I eat dinner, Claire.” He said, pulling up a seat next to her, “What are we having?” 

“What did we  _ have _ ,” Klaus corrects him, everyone else had already eaten dinner about an hour ago. 

“Sorry, what did we  _ have  _ for dinner? I’m hungry.” 

“Thank you for asking! Just chicken alfredo, but there’s other stuff in the fridge if you don’t want it. What did you do for school today?” Klaus said, getting Claire out of her seat and making a plate for Five. “I learned that high schoolers  _ suck.  _ Also that my teacher is a  _ bit- _ that he’s really mean. He got mad at me for not turning on my camera! Even though he said yesterday that they weren’t required. I accidentally missed a class because I was eating lunch, and the teacher didn’t bother recording it, so now I’m behind in biology. I don’t even like science.” His little brother rambled, waving his fork around. 

“Want me to email them for you? That doesn’t seem very fair.” Ben questioned. 

“I’ve got it, but  _ god  _ I hate that teacher.”   
  
Ben rolled his eyes, “Just try not to start any fights this year, the only reason they let you move up a grade anyway was because your teachers got too tired of you trying to correct them. I don’t want to have another run-in with your teachers, no matter how horrible they are.”

“Eat faster!” Claire demanded in her (not so) toddler voice, dragging out the a’s. Her head plopped onto the table as she made grabby-hands toward her youngest uncle. Five was born later than everyone else, almost half Klaus’ age, and adopted while all the Hargreeves children were still teens, and Five was about three. Klaus had taken him in when he and Ben moved out, not wanting his little brother to be stuck with Dad any longer. He’d been taking care of Five nearly his whole life, the boy was only six when they left the academy. Their father had died only seven years after, and so most of their siblings had moved back into the mansion, Ben and Klaus had only moved in because it was closer to the school Five was going to, and so Claire wouldn’t be alone.

“Fiiiiiiivee,” The little girl groaned again, trying to get his attention. She was lucky that she was the only one Five could tolerate. Five smiled at her, eating the last few bites of his dinner painfully slow, Claire glaring at him the whole time. 

They hadn’t always been this  _ happy.  _ Life at the academy was never good, growing up with a father who never loved you and six other siblings competing for the attention they would never get. Their father was, to say the least, a very bad man. They didn’t grow up in a good household, and Klaus didn’t want Five to deal with that either, so he was rather glad when the old man kicked the bucket for good.

“How ‘bout you go put on  _ Wicked _ while I finish up, okay Claire-bear? I still have to do the dishes, so you can get all comfortable while you wait.” Five said, pushing his seat back to clear his plate.

Claire nodded enthusiastically, pushing her seat out as far as she could and running as quickly as her little legs would take her. She quickly assembled the pillows into a sort of nest, taking her spot in the middle and motioning her two older uncles over to help her figure out the T.V.

So yeah, maybe they hadn’t always been this okay, but they sure were getting there. Bit by bit.

**Author's Note:**

> did i make u happy r u happy i have so much fluff planned but dont worry ill be writing more hurt/no comfort soon dont get ur hopes up too high.


End file.
